The present invention relates to cabinet structures, and more particularly to a kiosk with air conditioning for human occupants and automatic teller machines or other environmentally sensitive equipment.
Kiosks with environmental control systems have used off-the-shelf, self-contained room air conditioners mounted in an outside wall or window. Others have specially designed air conditioners fully contained within the kiosk, but these usually require louvered ventilators somewhere on the exterior of the kiosk for receiving and discharging outside air needed to cool the air conditioner's condenser coils. The louvers are generally noisy and detract from the plain exterior and clean appearance of the kiosk. In outdoor environments, prevailing winds blowing into the discharge ventilators may also cause a back pressure in the air conditioner and prevent sufficient cooling air from passing over the condenser coil. To blunt the wind, a sheet metal shroud or baffel has been added in some designs. The shroud projects outwardly from the louvers further detracting from the smooth profile of the kiosk.
Other kiosks have used a "split" vapor compression air conditioning system in which the evaporator unit for cooling the kiosk air is located inside the kiosk, and the condenser unit for cooling the refrigerant is mounted outside on the roof or ground nearby. The split system avoids noisy and unsightly louvered ventilators, but introduces other problems associated with hiding and protecting the condenser unit.